A Response to the Editor's Response

The letter to the editor at the Post Review by Brian Berg was also printed in the July 24, 2008 edition of the Chisago County Press (not available online). The editor of the Chisago County Press made the following comments in the same issue in response to his editorial.

Editor’s Note:
We have one letter this week opposing action taken by the Minnesota Legislature to raise the gas tax for the first time in years; and another letter from a writer who saw wisdom in the move by the legislature.

The best explanation we’ve come across on the gas tax hike came from North Branch City Engineer Julie Dresel. She said that in 1999 North Branch was alotted [sic] $334,705 in state aid for construction and maintenance accounts.

Nearly 10 years later-- this allotment for 2008 is $384,490.

The main reason for lack of funding in state aid accounts has been because construction needs have grown in all cities; plus the merging and combing of townships and cities has resulted in more cities qualifying for this allotment based on population.

In other words, as Dresel put it, the “pie” known as state aid is only so big, but more and more people want a piece. Without new revenues this would never keep pace with construction and/or road maintenance costs.

It could be argued Minnesota state government has revenue, and funding should have been found elsewhere in the budget-- but the system is set up to be funded by gas tax revenues, meaning those who consume fuel pay for the roads.

___________________________________________

In the July 31, 2008 issue of the Chisago County Press, Berg responded to the editor’s July 24th note. This is not available online.

Kalin taking more from Taxpayers
To the editor:
Last week I wrote that Rep. Kalin deliberately and significantly raises [sic] taxes on all of us just prior to the release of the state’s economic report which revealed we were facing a billion dollar deficit in the state budget.

The editor of the Chisago County Press responded by praising the increase in the gas tax. I did not itemize the gas tax, but referred to the whole tax increase levied to fund the $6.6 billion dollar transportation bill.

The gas tax is just one of several tax increases legislated to pay for the enormous cost of the bill. Kalin increased vehicle license tab fees by at least $25 per vehicle per year. The sales tax on vehicle purchases will increase in some places in the state. Kalin voted to fund the transportation bill by increasing the tax on propane and natural gas.

The editor of the Chisago County Press defended Kalin’s tax increase, arguing that the state aid funding pie for roads and bridges must be increased in size by raising taxes since there are not enough pie slices to go around.

The editor is not at all concerned about the size of the average taxpayer’s pie. Government’s pie must increase in size, but the pies of all of us were forced to shrink by Kalin’s taxation vote. In an economic slowdown, we are expected to tighten our belts, but legislators like Kalin keep grabbing a bigger slice out of Chisago County families’ shrinking pies to fatten the state’s pie.

Jeremy Kalin does NOT put people before politics.

Brian C. Berg
Taylors Falls

THE TIME LINE OF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE

Abortion -> -> -> -> to -> -> -> -> -> Euthanasia

In common parlance: "KILL YOU NOW!" - ("Planned [un]Parenthood" Makes Multiplied Millions Killing Unborn Babies) - OR "KILL YOU LATER!" - (as recently as today's news the State of Oregon "socialized medicine" agency denied a state insured woman cancer patient access to a certain chemotherapy drug because it was "too expensive!")

But the same State Agency wrote her a letter telling her that they would underwrite the cost of the drugs with which she could do away with herself, that is, commit suicide!

Reagan Day Dinner

Plan to join the Chisago County Republicans for the Reagan Day Dinner. The details are in the flyer below.

To reserve tickets, send a message to:

Reagan Day Tickets.

Tables of Eight, reserved and paid for, will receive priority seating in the order in which they are received. So purchase early.

Click on the map below to enlarge or print for directions.

A Cuban Perspective

I received the following personal account via e-mail. I cannot vouch for its veracity, however, it rings true. It also fits in well with the previous post by Freedomwriter.

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate MY independence day and on July 4, I celebrate America's.

This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence. On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the US to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there.

In the late 1950's most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in.

When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said, 'Praise the Lord.' And when the young leader said, 'I will be for change and I'll bring you change,' everyone yelled, 'Viva Fidel!'

But nobody asked about the change, so:

• By the time the executioner's guns went silent, the people's guns had been taken away.
• By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed.
• By the time everyone received their free education, it was worth nothing.
• By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him.
• By the time the change was finally implemented, Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status.
• By the time the change was over, more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes.

You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never in America fall for a young leader who promises change without asking, "WHAT change?" How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?'

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez, Jr

CASTRO: FORERUNNER OF OBAMA?

CASTRO: FORERUNNER OF OBAMA?

Before you roll your eyes and dismissively cast aside the possibility you have the moral obligation to yourself to examine the facts and the striking similarity of conditions and circumstances between the time when Castro became Cuba's dictator and Obama's present pursuit of the U. S. Presidency.

Finally, A Vote In Sight

Talk is, there could possibly be a vote on Capitol Hill before the Friday recess to lift the ban on offshore drilling. Please call or email our Senators immediately and demand this vote - the more calls, emails, and faxes they get the more they feel the pressure.

Sen. Coleman 202-224-5641
Sen. Klobuchar 202-224-3244
Rep. Oberstar 202-225-6211 (why not, right?)

And, for good measure, Majority Leader Harry Reid: 202-224-5556; 202-224-3542

You can email them at:
Senator Coleman http://coleman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Senator Klobuchar: http://klobuchar.senate.gov/emailamy.cfm

To fax for free, you can go to www.grassfire.net and follow their instructions.

Save this contact info for future reference, and use it often!

KALIN/OLSEEN not O.K. AS OUR LEGISLATORS

Notice how Representative Kalin and Senator Olseen have "nothing to brag about"; oh, all right - nothing to "cheer" about! Absolutely nothing to "write home about" from their efforts this past legislative session!

So they resort to writing about folksy, irrelevant local things like walking the dog, enjoying community celebrations, smelling the roses and pulling the little red play wagon, in parades, on behalf of "the poor." And things like that; things that have nothing to do about substantive accomplishments in the legislature!

And notice how they are being hammered by the local folks, by the county boards, by the school boards and adminstrators, the taxpayers and others who do not like what they did . Or what they promised or what they implied that they would accomplish but did not do!

They are "smarting" from these well-deserved localized criticisms so, early on, Olseen and Kalin are having to have surrogates write letters-to-the-editor pumping them up and telling us that they are nice guys (nobody has ever quibbled that!) even though they accomplished nothing other than raising taxes and doing the bidding of the buy-out bosses for whom they really work.

Examine their voting records. Examine who has funded their campaigns and you'll get the picture!

Under the representation of Kalin and Olseen taxpayers got their taxes raised, vehicle owners got their licenses increased and most others got fees raised (historically, "fees" were called "tax increases" by Democrats you will recall!).

And, oh yes, Olseen and Kalin got their per diems and mileage hiked!

Clearly we poor constituents didn't get our moneys worth with these two liberals!

This is one time it is permissible to agree with Obama - IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE!

Obama... You're no JFK sir!

"From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working. After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan. 143 days. I keep leftovers in my refrigerator longer than that."
Quote by Columnist Cheri Jacobus

The Obamessiah

He ventured forth to bring light to the world
The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers

Gerard Baker

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness....

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Obama’s messianic complex is so perceivable that this writing appears in mockery. He is so self-important, so arrogant, that he makes Jesse Ventura look down-right humble.

Priorities of politics

The following editorial was printed in the July 24, 3008 issue of the Post Review.

To The Editor:

As soon as the I-35W bridge collapsed last August, the Democrats were busy turning tragedy into taxes for transportation. Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-17B) was in the thick of planning to take much more of our money. Within two weeks of commencing the legislative session, he voted for the largest tax increase in history, the $6.6 billion expenditure for transportation over ten years.

The Democrats, including Kalin, passed this bill hastily on February 21, 2008 before the state economist’s financial report came out on February 28, knowing full well that the deficit was large and projected to be much larger.

The Governor vetoed this high-priced bill on February 22, but the legislature overrode it on February 25, with Kalin voting a second time to take your hard-earned dollars.

Jeremy Kalin actively and calculating conspired with his cohorts to overburden Chisago County’s taxpayers with higher taxes, knowing we were moving into an economic slowdown such that State economist Tom Stinson called it a recession.

This is not the prudent action of a fiscal conservative which Kalin claims he is. This is the misguided action of a spend drift demanding more of your tax dollars while there is a major shortage of tax dollars arriving in the state coffers. Days later on February 28, we learned there was a huge $935 million deficit in the state’s budget. A prudent legislator would have waited for that scheduled forecast before voting for such a massive taxing and spending increase during an economic downturn. It was already hard enough to keep paying the tax load.

What did Kalin do? He put on more of a tax burden that hits all income levels hard in Chisago County.

Kalin made a difficult situation worse for all of us. That’s not putting people before politics.

Brian C. Berg
Taylors Falls

This letter was also published in the Forest Lake Times and the Chisago County Press (not available online).

NOBAMA

"NOBAMA, YOU'RE NO RONALD REAGAN!"

Republicans in Congress Must Become "DRILL" INSTRUCTORS!

If America is to win the energy war and achieve energy independence and refined petroleum products in plentiful supply at affordable prices the Republican Congressmen and Senators under the direction of the Commander in Chief must become "DRILL" instructors teaching the drill-dodging Democrats how to obey the clear direction of the American people. Right now the Democrats merit a dishonorable discharge for neglect of duty.

RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE?

We have all heard of "absentee landlords" have we not?

Well, speculation (at least) is that we do not have a truly "resident Representative" representing us (District 17B) in the state legislature. Surely this needs clarification and verification and resolution before the next election.

THE BLAME GAME IS "A DOG THAT NO LONGER HUNTS!"

Both Senator Olseen and Representative Kalin have had a convenient "out" for their own failures - this dynamic DFL Duo have skillfully played the "blame-the-Governor" and the opposition party game.

Conveniently they would proclaim that "the Governor vetoed this or that; the Governor was not cooperative; the Governor indicated he was opposed to this or that; the Governor did not govern in a non-partisan or bi-partisan way; the Governor was too conservative; and on and on they would go complaining about the Governor - as a ruse to cover up their own incompetence, failures and liberal extremism.

But indicators are starting to show up that the luxury of the "blame game" may be running out of steam for the Senator and the Representative and that it may not work well for them any more.

To illustrate that development turn to the front page article in the July 16, 2008 issue of The Post Review where we read this exchange: "Board Chair Kim Salo brought up the subject of state assessment testing and noted that three-quarters of state students did not pass the math test. Both Kalin and Olseen noted efforts to address assessment testing that were met with opposition from Governor Tim Pawlenty, prompting Superintendent Deb Henton to reply, "I don't care about governors vetoes, I care about juniors passing the test."

Clearly Kalin and Olseen were interested in passing the buck while equally clearly the Superintendent and the Board Chair are interested in the students passing the tests!

A Liberal Behind the Times with a New Label

A while back I saw a sign at a business owned by an ardent liberal who touts his business for being green. The sign brags about serving drinks in eco-friendly glass mugs, recycling cardboard, selling plastic pails for reuse, sending deep-frying oil to be reused and buying energy efficient appliances.

I guess it must be a badge of honor to be green. Among liberals it also must be a badge of honor to slap one’s own back for this great accomplishment. Why it’s like getting a gold star on your completed assignment in grade school!

So how green is this business? Well, this very business was serving drinks in eco-friendly glass mugs back in the ’50s before the current business owner was even born. (Did you know that glass has been around for more than a thousand years and plastic less than a hundred?!!!) If this makes them green today, then they were green back then. Recycling cardboard has been around a long time and assuredly since the ’50s—nothing new here. Why capitalists even buy the stuff to recycle, creating a whole new industry! Yah, and we recycle plastic too.

Recycling deep-frying oil is easy to do. In fact, truckers arrange to pick up the used oil for their own fuel. It’s so easy to do that a business owner almost has to stubbornly refuse to avoid that capitalistic, money-saving venture.

As far as buying energy efficient appliances goes, it’s almost impossible to buy one that is not energy efficient. As decades-old appliances wear out, energy efficient replacement comes from the capitalistic manufacturing market so that a business owner doesn’t have to do much to be the beneficiary of it. Sure there are choices regarding the levels of efficiency (depending on the cost), but all the appliances are more efficient than a few decades ago.

So what’s so great about these things? Nothing. Republican business owners do this everyday without bragging, simply because these are good business practices. Why even some Democrats do the same without touting their business as green. Amazing, but true!

Why does a liberal have to brag about being green? Any merchant is in business for the best profit that can be made. The above practices either make or save money. They also happen to be eco-friendly. A conservative likes to conserve money, conserve energy, conserve on and reuse waste and we like to conserve our environment too. We do it all the time, but don’t brag about it. Perhaps because conservatives don’t tout their eco-conservation, they are viewed as eco-unfriendly.

Liberals do absolutely nothing better than the conservative business owners do, but they label themselves as green. Thus they feel better about themselves. They have less guilt for using the environment which they do just as much as those nasty capitalists. And their elitist green customers feel so much better when they make a capitalistic purchase at a green business.

Being green is all about feeling good and nothing more. Being green is the anti-depressant used to counteract feeling guilty for just living on planet earth.

We conservatives feel good naturally by living on planet earth conservatively and thanking God for his bountiful gifts to us.

Health Care, Canadian Style

The father of the Canadian health care system, Claude Castonguay, is now championing private health insurance and contracting services to the private sector. Here is the story.

Read the story of Shona Holmes’ experience in the Canadian system and her need to come to the US for health care. Today she is an advocate for free-market health care in Canada. She says if the United States turns to socialized medicine, Canadians will not have any place to go for good, timely medical care.

She is featured on the Mayo Clinic web site.

Are facts obsolete?

By Thomas Sowell

"In an election campaign in which not only young liberals, but also some people who are neither young nor liberals, seem absolutely mesmerized by the skilled rhetoric of Barack Obama, facts have receded even further into the background than usual."

Read more....

Blaming Big Oil is not the answer

By W.F. Walker Johanson

"So what's going on with the world's oil prices?

It's simply that demand for oil is exceeding the currently available supply. And why is that? It's not because demand is too great. It's because the available supply is too small. And that's because Democrats in Congress have prohibited U.S. oil companies from getting the oil we already own from out of the ground!"

Read the whole article....

Ode to (manly) men

by Patrice Lewis

"I'm not threatened by men being men."

Here’s a woman who understands. She didn’t say it is an ode to men. She doesn’t have time for a wuss. She said it is an ode to manly men.

Read all about it....

Beware Global Warming

Global warming may cause kidney stones. Sure enough, that’s what it says here.

And it may cause climate change delusion. For kicks, read this.

And it even causes fish to grow bigger.

In each of these alleged cause and effect relationships, it is assumed that global warming is a fact and the cause. This is not science. It is impossible for non-existent global warming to cause anything. In deed, much of the media and so many politicians are under the delusion of climate change.

"Socket" To Us Jeremy!

House File 1890 authored by Jeremy Kalin would "set energy efficiency standards for water coolers. . . . . ."

Conserve even more electricity, Representative Kalin, do away with water coolers and drink the water straight from the faucet at room temperature. So who needs it cooled!

And Kalin would also prescribe energy efficiency standards even for such major (!) energy parasites as DVD players and AC/DC converter plugs!!

A real environmentalist he, that Kalin!

Scapegoating Speculators

Walter E. Williams says,

"Congressional attacks on speculation do not alter the oil market's fundamental demand and supply conditions. The long-term price of oil would be lowered if Congress permitted exploration for the estimated billions upon billions of barrels of domestically available oil, not to mention the estimated trillion-plus barrels of shale oil in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah."

Read the whole....

And here is another article.

Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

Read more....

I wonder what Saddam was doing with this huge amount of yellowcake? It couldn’t possibly be that he wanted to enrich it into nuclear bombs, could it? Nah. He was a nice Red Cross worker who was totally misunderstood.

This elephant in the living room is so huge that few want to even talk about it. Why if the Dems just cover their eyes, the yellowcake elephant disappears (except Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame know Saddam wasn't buying yellowcake from Niger as Bush claimed)!

So let’s see........Saddam’s nuclear program came to a screeching halt without terrorists or Iran getting their hands on it. Qaddafi gave up his nuclear program. And now the North Koreans have blown up their cooling tower for their nuclear program. Maybe President Bush was on to something!

TONY SNOW, 1955-2008

Tony Snow passed away today as a victim of cancer. Susan Estrich wrote an article on his passing that pretty much sums it all up, and is worth everyone reading. The link is:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,381304,00.html

To quote her: "A good man died today."

KALIN ALLEGES HUNGER IN CHISAGO COUNTY

"The HHS (Health & Human Services) BUDGET CONSTITUTES APPROXIMATELY HALF OF ALL CHISAGO COUNTY EXPENDITURES." (Source: Guest Columnist commentary in Forest Lake Times by Chisago County Commissioner Ben Montzka - posted May 10, 2006)

Thus a multi-million dollar county human services department is in place and is charged with the responsibility to administer programs to meet human need but, according to you, Rep. Kalin, even with this high expenditure of public money, apparently the job is not getting done.

If, as you assert, Rep. Kalin, there are families in Chisago county who "have to choose which family member will eat tonight" then, Rep. Kalin, surely you will want to - along with Senator Olseen - publish a letter to the Chisago County Board and the public sharing and revealing the facts you have relied on and your research that support your allegation of the unmet basic human need for food in Chisago county since avoidable hunger is not a societally acceptable circumstance.

The County Commissioners and the public want to know why the job is not getting done.

DON TAYLOR for STATE REPRESENTATIVE 17B

"The 2008 Minnesota Legislative session was the most anti-family, anti-life, anti-marriage (session) in the last 20 years."

(Source: The Minnesota Family Institute) - (The Lesson: We Must Elect Don Taylor as State Representative for District 17B!)

Do as I say, Not as I do

This seems to be a reccuring theme for Obama, who, like most liberals, think they need to make tons of rules for the rest of us, but not themselves. "...the choice could not be clearer...it starts with equal pay." So says Obama, trying to illustrate the differences between him and Senator McCain. He did so quite beautifully...'eloquently', if you must. Here's the scoop on the two senator Presidential Candidates:

"On average, women working in Obama's Senate office were paid at least $6,000 below the average man working for the Illinois senator." CNSNews.com reports of their own findings. "Of the five people in Obama's Senate office who were paid $100,000 or more on an annual basis, only one -- Obama's administrative manager -- was a woman."

In contrast, women outnumbered men on McCain's Senate payroll by 30 to 16. The women were paid an average of $3,000 more than the men.

Well put senator Obama.

Oil Production—Russian Style

Russia does not have any problem drilling for oil in the Arctic. The comments on this article are informative. Meanwhile, the Dems talk a lot and block a lot. They will sink us into a second-rate country.

Our leaders are in carbon-cloud cuckoo land

By Christopher Booker

For a perfect example of what is meant by "gesture politics" - an empty pledge given solely for effect, which the politician has no hope of honouring - one could not do better than this week's commitment by the G8 leaders on how they want us to fight climate change.

Read more....

Click here and here for some appropriate political cartoon commentary.

Unalienable Rights

Thomas Jefferson declared:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Today we hear much about human rights and far too little about unalienable rights. What are human rights? Here is a dictionary definition:

The basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.

If the word human is stuffed with the above concepts, it might do the job. But imagine Jefferson writing:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men have certain human Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The ring and cadence is gone. But more than that—the meaning is shot.

The Founding Fathers believed in unalienable rights, not human rights. There is a difference. "Human" says the rights belong to human beings and not much more. The word says nothing about the divine origin of the rights. The word says nothing about the inviolability of those rights.

When used in some settings, the word "human" focuses attention on those who have rights, not on the Giver of those rights. In other contexts, the rights are understood to be those granted by government. This suits the anti-God crowd just fine for they love words that are devoid of God-talk. It suits big government types because they view government as the fountain of all rights. Unfortunately, both views go hand-in-hand because big government advocates do not have room in their universe for a God who endows all his creatures with unalienable rights.

Imagine the Founding Fathers proclaiming to King George that they had rights—human rights. On the one hand, the monarch would scoff that he had taken away any rights they imagined they had. On the other hand, the self-conceptualizing, ever-beneficent royalty would rebuke them for not recognizing he grants rights to his subjects.

The word unalienable is a necessary modifier of rights. Jefferson told King George all men are endowed with unalienable rights, rights that are not alienable or capable of being sold or transferred. They are absolute, unchangeable, inherent, indigenous, intrinsic, native. They are inviolable, that is, not capable of being violated or infringed.

Life is a right that government cannot grant. Only God can endow each of his creatures with life. Government can destroy that life in this life, therefore, the Declaration argues, ". . . to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men. . ."

Government cannot endow a person with liberty. God endows each of his equally created creatures with liberty. Government can impinge that liberty, therefore, ". . . to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men. . ."

Governments and governors (of whatever variety) must recognize that the governed and the governors are created equal by God who endowed both with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Any other view will lead to despotism. King George had violated this fundamental fact and therefore they charged him with about two dozen wretched violations of their God-given rights which in their minds entitled them to declare independence. They were uninterested in human rights.

Minnesota Legislature Similar Rating?

The heading of the "Rasmussen Reports" on the current U. S. Congress reads "Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever" - "just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job" - clearly it does not get much worse than that!

It would be very interesting to subject the Minnesota legislature to the same or similar rating test to see where the Minnesota legisalture fits in the mind of the public after the recent legislative session with its exhorbitant taxes and unbridled spending and unconscionable political power grabs.

And by the way, which Party is in the Majority at both Federal and State levels of government?

Nazi Fighter, Protector of Jews

Here is the story of Irena Sendler, who died recently at 98 years of age.

Read the account of her heroic efforts to save Jewish children from the holocaust. Read also about the young girls who began the "Life in a Jar" project. Irena Sendler heroically saved 2,500 Jewish children from death and was honored as a Polish Righteous Gentile. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

The worthy Irena Sendler was displaced by the unworthy Al Gore who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for advancing the cause of a non-existent global warming. What a shame! What a travesty! The Goracle isn't worthy to untie her shoelaces. Ironically, Irena means peace in the Greek language.

Irena Sendler is a model of selfless courage, bravery, compassion and noble purpose. She is worthy of honor.

And on the National Front.....

I become excited every time I receive an e mail such as the following from people I know have at least leaned Democratic in the past years. If only more people were actually listening, instead of swooning to the new rock star on the block...who this weekend even got the liberal press to question his stand on .... anything?

The people who are truly listening will hear the word 'comrade' being insinuated into the speech patterns of these leaders of the proletariat movement. America is being divided not by racial lines, but by the politicians who demand and orchestrate a mindset where those who work and save are the stones around the neck of the poor and suffering masses. You are one or the other.

A very simple concept for easy digestion in a sound bite minute. You are driven daily into your cattle pen and fed on the idea of the largesse of the Democratic Party, who will provide for you in spite of the evil rich (Nancys income being tiny, of course). Food is easy there, the trough is always full. Once enough have been fattened in the feedlot (who pays for the feed?), the social structure can be replaced with your fearless leaders, but where, or where are the people who made the factories, corporations and profits that sustained the food chain? See below:

Windfall Tax on Retirement IncomeAdding a tax to your retirement is simply another way of saying to the American people, you're so darn stupid that we're going to keep doing this until we drain every cent from you. That's what the Speaker of the House is saying. ..............Nancy Pelosi wants a Windfall Tax on Retirement Income. In other words tax what you have made by investing toward your retirement. This woman is a nut case! You aren't going to believe this.Madam speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to put a Windfall Tax on all stock market profits (including Retirement fund, 4 01K and Mutual Funds! Alas, it is true - all to help the 12 Million Illegal Immigrants and other unemployed Minorities!This woman is frightening.She quotes...' We need to work toward the goal of equalizing income, (didn't Marx say something like this), in our country and at the same time limiting the amount the rich can invest.' ( I am not rich, are you)When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied:'We need to raise the standard of living of our poor, unemployed and minorities. For example, we have an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in our country who need our help along with millions of unemployed minorities. Stock market windfall profits taxes could go a long way to guarantee these people the standard of living they would like to have as 'Americans'.' (Read that quote again and again and let it sink in. Lower your retirement, give it to others who have not worked as you have for it.

KALIN: "Families Choose Which Members Eat Tonight."

JEREMY KALIN jabs in the eye every charitable, religious, public and private organization and entity in the County when he spreads the untruth that "families in my county (now he owns the county too?!) have to choose which family member is going to be allowed to eat tonight. (letter to the editor - Chisago County Press).

If KALIN's untruth were true then KALIN should do more than pull his little red wagon in parades pretending he is putting people before politics.

JEREMY KALIN owes a public apology to every agency of charity in the County/District for falsely claiming these agencies have fallen down or are falling down on the job.

KALIN should, in addition, refer "the hungry" families/persons that he alleges to know who are "taking daily turns at eating " - he should refer any name that he knows that fits the "hungry category" to any of the entities mentioned above and he will find that they will be well served.

If not, then KALIN has an obligation to name the group, organization, church, public social service department or agency that refuses to meet legitimate needs.

Clearly, unless KALIN takes positive steps and refers "the hungry" that he alleges to know and acts as advocated above one can only conclude that KALIN IS TRAFFICKING IN PEOPLES' PERSONAL TRAGEDY AND THAT HE IS DOING JUST THE OPPOSITE OF HIS CLEVER CAMPAIGN SLOGAN AND IS GUILTY OF PUTTING "POLITICS BEFORE PEOPLE!"

Representative Kalin, the next move is yours.

Area needs Don Taylor

There is a good letter to the editor in the Chisago County Press, July 3, 2008. It is not online so it is reproduced here.

To the Editor,

I read Jeremy Kalin’s letter to the editor and it left me troubled. It puzzled me why my legislator is taking time to inform me that there are families in my county who have to choose which member of the family is going to be allowed to eat on a particular night. Jeremy’s answer is to forego campaign literature (he still passes out stickers) at parades and collect food for the poor. If that is Jeremy’s answer, it falls short.

If Jeremy knows of families who truly need help, he should be directing them to the many government and private helping organizations in Chisago County. There is no need for families to go hungry. Churches help. Families help. Individuals help. Schools collect good [sic]. Organizations like the Boy and Girl Scouts collect food. The Post Office workers collect food. School lunches are subsidized for those who need help. There is no shortage of caring in Chisago County. The difference is this: a legislator is in a unique position to help the poor or at least make sure they are not hurt.

Jeremy Kalin hurt the citizens in need in Chisago County by voting to raise the gas tax. No one is hurt more by an increase in the gas tax than the poor. During a time of economic downturn and rising gas prices, Jeremy voted to raise the gas tax. Not only do the poor pay for [sic] tax for their own gasoline, they pay the increased gas tax for the transportation of all their food, clothing and everything else they buy.

Kalin voted to raise vehicle license tab fees by at least $25. That’s $50 per year for a two-car working family. Kalin increased the tax on propane and natural gas which also hits the poor. And in some locations, the sales tax on vehicle purchases will increase. Besides that, there is a new tax on cans of paint.

How are the poor suppose to get to work? How are the poor suppose to heat their homes? Kalin made life worse for the poor and he should be ashamed.

When I see Jeremy and his little red wagons at the parades, I am reminded of the harm he did to the people in need all over the state of Minnesota and I am reminded that we need a representative who really cares and understands the people of this county. We need Don Taylor.

Galen Strovers

___________________________________________

Update: This letter was also published in the Post Review.

EINSTEIN LIVES AGAIN!!

Some people are ignorant beyond help or hope! A letter to the editor appeared this week in at least a couple area weekly newspapers that is a classic example of such horrible and hate-filled ignorance.

The following is a word-for-word reprint of that letter as it appeared in those newspapers under the signature of "Charlie Rike, Pine City." You will shudder that anyone in our day could be so misinformed, no, just plain ignorant. There is no other word that fits!

Here's the letter to the Editor -

Dear Editor:

What an "outrage."

We all witnessed this past week the very disgraceful decision by the Nation's Supreme Court to lower the EXXON oil spill settlement to the ridiculous amount of $15,000 per person hurt by the oil spill that happened 15 years ago. That oil spill took the livelihood and lives of many hundreds of hard working Alaskans.

As Don Shelby of WCCO Channel Four pointed out, the Supreme Court's ruling of $500 million amounts to only one week's profits for EXXON. They have probably spent many times that amount fighting the case in court for over 15 years. The number one reason to support a democrat for president this fall is to have a more friendly Supreme Court. By electing a more Democratic Congress and President, we can achieve that. Many ask why are we not getting things turned around in this country now when we have had a Democratic majority in Congress the past two years. The reason being is we still do not have a large enough majority to over ride the Bush veto pen or enough majority to stop the unrelenting Republican filibusters. In the next eight years, there is a very real possibility there will be four Supreme Court vacancies, if "McSame" gets in working people in this country will get hurt even more. This Supreme Court has become a pawn to big business.

We need a larger majority to make real changes possible. We also need to replace Bush's lap dog Norm Coleman right here in Minnesota. Coleman was hand picked by Cheney, Bush and Rove to run against Paul Wellstone. If Wellstone had not been killed right prior to the election six years ago, Coleman would never have been elected. Coleman's claim to be a 90 percent improvement over Wellstone is an outrage. Coleman voted in lock-step with Bush over 90 percent of the time, yet claiming to be independent is a joke! Al Franken would make a great US Senator for working people, for the retired people of Minnesota and for all Americans.

Vote Democratic this fall and change the direction for a much better America.

Charlie Rike

Pine City

JOKE OF THE WEEK!

A "ghost writer" seeking to support Jeremy Kalin for a second term in the legislature heaped these words of eloquent praise upon Kalin in a letter to the editor (STAR - July 5, 2008):

"Jeremy Kalin has done what our elected representatives should do. In his first term serving Minn. (sic) District 17B, he (Kalin) has listened, studied the issues, worked hard, reported back regularly and been responsive to his constituency."

The laughable humor of the "ghost letter" is that writer "Clarence Nelson, Taylors Falls" couldn't list a single accomplishment of Jeremy Kalin!

LET THE RECORDS SPEAK ABOUT LIBERAL REP. KALIN!

LISTEN UP! (Kalin the ultra-liberal)

"On March 13th, your state legislator, REP. JEREMY KALIN, helped defeat a motion that would have allowed an up-or-down vote on HF 3010, a bill prohibiting sanctuary cities from harboring illegal aliens.

Cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul have sanctuary policies that prevent police officers from inquiring about immigration status or enforcing immigration laws. These policies are allowing illegal aliens to openly enjoy the benefits of citizenship without the fear of deportation.

Legislators who support sanctuary cities are trying to stall HF3010, hoping to simply allow the bill to die in committee. The recent vote was an attept to pull HF 3010 from committee to the House floor for an up-or-down vote. But Rep. Jeremy Kalin helped to defeat this motion.

Sanctuary policies cause a host of financial, legal and criminal problems that negatively affect the quality of life for legitimate Minnesota citizens. The recent bus crash in Cottonwood is a tragic reminder of this fact and should have been a wake-up call to our state legislators to get tough on illegal immigration. But some legislators like Rep. Jeremy Kalin don't seem to be getting the message."

(Information source: "Action Alert! - Minnesota Majority" - bold print added for clarifying emphasis)

Independence from Bondage

We return once again to the concept of freedom on this our nation’s birthday. Two hundred and thirty-two years ago today, the thirteen colonies declared themselves free. Many of our great-great-great-great-grandfathers subsequently served as Minutemen to back up that declaration with force. That’s a mere seven generations back from us.

While there were many Tories and Loyalists, the desire to be free predominated and they declared:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Liberty was conceived to belong to the individual, not classes of men, but one class—all men—composed of individuals each of whom are equal and therefore cannot be put into distinguishing classes.

The Founding Fathers did not think like modern liberals who conceive of classes, not individuals. The "all men" are differentiated into groups. There are the bashable males and the favored females—the homosexuals and the homophobes—the GLBT and the straight—the rich and the poor—the guilty white and the downtrodden black—the haves and have nots—and endlessly more. Some classes have more rights than others. Some have entitlements. Some classes must dole out limited wealth, limited power and limited position to other classes. And there is definitely the ruling class who approach the realm of royalty to govern the serfs who must remain a subservient class with ever-outstretched, receiving hands which also vote to keep the ruling class in power.

That was not the conception of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration. The revolutionaries said all men are created equal. Station in life was not considered. The titles of Lords and Ladies and Earls and Kings and Queens were deliberately excluded from American thought. In fact, they intended to declare that they themselves, and all colonists, were equal with King George before God as human beings.

Now this was taken as an audacious claim by Loyalists who still thrived on the divine right of kings. The top down approach engenders snobbery which is propped up with the idea that they are created more equal than others. The bottom up approach embraces the dignity of man derived from the creative hand of God and then out of humility before God dares tell a king that he is no different before God than they, all the while respecting his power to destroy them, though not the right.

Living out the principles of individual endowed freedom is attempting to live the way the Creator intended his creatures to live. It is a mission not to insult our Creator by living less than he designed for us. It is a conscious recognition and acknowledgment that God endowed me with certain unalienable rights. But further, that God endowed everyone else with those same rights.

Our Founding Fathers did not view themselves as a class of victims when they confronted the King with his ". . . repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States." No, they put themselves into the same class as the King. King or not, he was a man among equally created men who failed to recognize he was a mere man among equal men.

The Founders conceived of one class composed of all individuals, each of whom was endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They were not attempting to do away with distinctions such as station in life, male or female, the governors and the governed, the teacher and student, the judge and the criminal, which are all incidental to being equal before God. Being governed by a king was not odious to them. They took great pause before throwing off familiar government (". . . Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient cause. . ."). However, being governed by a king unjustly was insulting to their God-given rights of self-determination.

The principles found in this one sentence in the Declaration of Independence, have been abandoned by the very party which the Democrats claim Thomas Jefferson founded. Today, Democrat thinking creates class warfare and an entitlement mentality that Jefferson hated. Sad to say, many Republicans are not much better. When we remove the endowing Creator from our thinking, we will keep moving away from divinely created equality into governmentally created egalitarianism, which the Founders hated with a passion. The one brings freedom; the other creates bondage.

REPRESENTATIVE JEREMY KALIN IS ABSOLUTELY NOT CONSERVATIVE

LISTEN UP!

REPEATEDLY OVER TIME AND IN MANY MEDIA YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE FROM DISTRICT 17B - JEREMY KALIN - HAS LABELLED HIMSELF AS A "FISCAL CONSERVATIVE."

THAT, OF COURSE, IS A FLAT-OUT FALSEHOOD AND YOU NEED TO KNOW IT AND UNDERSTAND IT AND ACT UPON IT!

MR. KALIN TYPICALLY STARTS OUT HIS COMMENTS WITH THESE OR SIMILAR SOUNDING WORDS: "AS A FISCAL CONSERVATIVE, I AM NEVER EXCITED ABOUT INCREASING TAXES . . . . . . . " SUCH AS IN A PRESS RELEASE OF MARCH 02, 2007.

OR IN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SUCH AS TO THE POST REVIEW WHERE HE DEFENDS THE INFAMOUS TRANSPORTATION FUNDING BILL WHICH HE AND OLSEEN SUPPORT - "AS A FISCAL CONSERVATIVE, I KNOW THAT THE TRANSPORTATION FUNDING BILL WILL SAVE US ALL . . . . . . . "

THAT IS HOG-WASH AND BLATHER DESIGNED TO DECEIVE YOU - YOU THE VOTER, YOU THE CITIZEN OF THE DISTRICT, YOU THE TAXPAYER, YOU THE INNOCENT VICTIM.

LET THE RECORDS SPEAK FOR THE RECORDS TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT JEREMY KALIN'S RECORD.

UNMISTAKEABLY YOU WILL DISCOVER THE SHOCKING TRUTH THAT JEREMY KALIN IS NO CONSERVATIVE AND HIS VOTES DO NOT REFLECT THE WELFARE OF THIS DISTRICT.

FROM THE TAXPAYERS LEAGUE OF MINNESOTA - 2008 LEGISLATIVE SCORECARD - which rated all 201 Minnesota Senators and Minnesota Representatives in the legislature REPRESENTATIVE KALIN received a rating of zero!!! He voted wrong every time all the time on the issues under consideration!!

Even our very liberal Senator Rick Olseen wasn't quite as bad in the same report - Olseen received a rating of "9" out of a possible score of 100!

Independence Day

President Ronald Reagan wrote a stirring message for the Fourth of July in 1981 entitled What July Fourth Means To Me . Take it to heart, stir your soul and live it!

The days of Carter were the doldrums, a defeat, a depression, a day of hunkering down, of despair, doubt, disappointment, discouragement, dashed hopes, dead dreams. We lived in a national malaise. We were hesitant, overly cautious, fearful.

We thought we had to live with scarcity, scarcity of energy. Christmas lights were ordered snuffed out. Lighting displays in box stores were largely left unlit. Exuberance and delight took flight. Thermostats were turned down or up, depending on the season. When we struck a match, we were urged to let it burn as long as possible to add heat to our inadequately heated spaces. The doomsday of a new ice age and energy shortage was upon us. We survived with the misery index. Carter’s glum disposition was lived as if every day were April 15th.

For 444 days, the mighty USA was stymied, not by the Iranian hostage-takers, but by our own President’s dithering. We subsisted with failure. We marked time until the end of the Carter era. The mighty nation could not conceive and conduct a plan to free the 52 American hostages. Daring flew the White House coop.

But then daring flew the Iranian coop as a result of one change in America. Iran released the hostages just minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President on January 20, 1981. The Iranians never feared Carter for he was a craven weakling. They feared a-peace-through-strength-Reagan and therefore feared America.

On the other hand, Ronald Reagan was such a gentleman that he sent Carter to Germany to welcome the hostages and give some dignity to the miserably failed Carter.

America could sing again as the birds sing at the dawn of a new day. We could stand tall because an awful weight had been lifted from our shoulders. Carter was gone and Reagan was in. He brought hope, confident expectation, contentment and satisfaction. We could be proud again that we are American. Gone was morbidity. We could whistle with joy. We felt lighthearted. The misery index faded and the nation moved into the longest growth spell in peacetime history.

And we cheered when Reagan challenged, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" We cheered again when the Berliners tore down that wall. And this time, not just 52 were freed, but millions upon millions!

We had new confidence in all of life, nationally and individually, because of one man, President Ronald Wilson Reagan. We could look once again at ourselves and respect ourselves. Ronald Reagan lived as if every day were the Fourth of July. And so did we! Thank you Mr. President!

The Melting Artic

There are numerous reports about the accelerated melting of the northern, polar ice cap. This article has a graphic which shows the size of the ice cap since 1980. While this linked article tells of the fact of ice melt without trying to explain its cause, many such stories blame it on global warming. Just like President Bush, global warming is blamed for everything!

In reality, there is no global warming, so there must be another explanation for the extensive ice melt in the Arctic. The cause(s) may elude us, but perhaps it is due to massive, under-sea volcanoes in the Artic. For more reading, look at this.

THE RECORDS SPEAK!

*abstracted from Agenda of Lindstrom City Council Meeting, Thursday, May 18th 2006:

CONSENT AGENDA:

PUBLIC HEARINGS/PRESENTATIONS:
*1. East Central Regional Development Commission - Jeremy Kalin

"Pearson stated after further review of the hand-out from Mr. Kalin, she did not believe this item should be addressed before City Council this evening. Pearson reminded that Kalin was previously directed by Council to attend and address the Park Board. Pearson stated this item does not appear to require City Council action or requests."

"Pearson further reviewed an e-mail copy of (caps and italics added for emphasis) A LETTER RECEIVED FROM BOB VOSS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE EAST CENTRAL REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION. MR. VOSS'S RESPONSE/REPLY WAS THAT MR. KALIN WAS A REPRESENTATIVE to THEIR BOARD, BUT NOT REPRESENTATIVE of THE COMMISSION . . . . . ." " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "

"Pearson added she "BELIEVED THIS AGENDA ITEM WAS AN ATTEMPT TO PROMOTE A POLITICAL PLATFORM. " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "

"Rew stated Kalin should have (10) minutes to speak with Council. He added if the information turns political, he suggested that Kalin be asked to leave."

"Mayor Lindgren called for a second on the motion. There being none, the motion died."

"Pearson stated KALIN HAD DISCREDITED HIMSELF, POSING AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF ECRDC WHEN HE WAS NOT."



NOW FROM JEREMY KALIN'S WEBSITE CURRENT TO THE PRESENT DATE (July 2, 2008) is this paragraph touting his credentials and abilities: "I work as a designer and draftsman for Natural Spaces Domes, (a company owned and operated by the family of the late DFL State Senator Johnson who, at a young age, died in office and whose legislative seat is now occupied by Senator Rick Olseen).

Kalin continues: "I ALSO REPRESENT OUR COUNTY ON THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION, WHERE WE WORK WITH ALL SIDES, REGARDLESS OF PARTY, AND CRAFT INNOVATIVE, STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS TO THE CHALLENGES WE ALL FACE . . . . . . . ."

The Records Speak. Loudly!

Still Thinking About Not Voting?

I had posted some comments on Republicans who are considering not voting for some Republican candidates because they are not conservative enough.

Here are some more comments worth considering and here.

Don’t give it to the liberals by not voting for a Republican.

Jeremy Kalin – The Real Kalin

Over $20 Billion dollars is spent on welfare by state governments to illegal aliens annually in this country. $2.2 Billion dollars is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. $2.5 Billion is spent on Medicaid, $12 Billion is spent every year on primary and secondary school education for children in this country illegally who cannot even speak English, $3 million dollars per DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens in our prisons and 30% of all Federal prisoners are illegal aliens. Think of how much lower the tax burden would be in this country without the financial strain this issue puts on us. Believe me, I could go on, the statistics are endless and overwhelming, but this brings me to my point.

State Representative Jeremy Kalin voted on your (constituents of District 17B) behalf against a law that would have only provided local government aid to cities that allow law enforcement to verify immigrant status. Further he voted against the requirement to provide photo identification for voters which would keep potential voter fraud from happening and keep only U.S. Citizens voting in our elections. As a side note, Mr. Kalin also voted for a resolution in support of opening free trade with communist Cuba, a country with a dismal record on human rights!!

What kind of individual do we actually have representing us at the capital and what exactly are his priorities? It does not appear that Mr. Kalin keeps the interests of the people of District 17B first and foremost when he is at the capital voting. This young man has put the best interests of others including over 30 million illegal aliens in front of the best interests of those that elected him to represent this district.

Enough is enough, it is time to send a representative to the capital who will actually work toward the best interests of this district and this great state. Don Taylor is a man who understands the difficulties of running a small business in this big box world, he understands the family values it takes to raise and educate a good family, and he understands what it feels like to actually pay property taxes in this district!! Get out and convince everyone you can to vote for Don Taylor so we can once again be proud of the person we send to the capital to represent us.

Change - Be careful what you wish for…

Just before the election in 2006 that tipped the balance of power towards the Democrats, consumer confidence stood at a 2 ½ year high, gas was $2.19 per gallon, and the unemployment rate was at 4.5% nationally. Since the induction of a Democratic majority into Congress in 2006, consumer confidence has fallen through the floor, the cost of gas is over $4.00 per gallon, unemployment is at 5%, the U.S. market has seen nearly $2.3 trillion in equity evaporate from stock and mutual fund losses, home equity drops have exceeded 1.2 trillion dollars nationally, and 1% of homes in this country are in foreclosure.

In 2006 this country voted for ‘change’ and we got what we asked for. Can any of us afford any more ‘change’ in our lives? I know I can’t!

Family Values vs. 14,000 Abortions annually

Ok, The annual statistics are in and there were 13,843 abortions performed in Minnesota last year. The press touts the fact that the total is down by some 1.57% from last year. Wahoo! The pundits will declare victory and call for more sex ed in the classrooms and for us to provide free birth control for school children of all ages to help those numbers decrease even further in the future. They will also promote legislation that prohibits the notification of parents of minor children who have this procedure performed on them.

What these individuals do not realize is that there is a much bigger problem here if you look at the big picture. Why are these people (predominantly young) having sex and worse yet, unprotected sex in the first place? Very few people want to explore this issue because it leads back to the one of the largest issues facing our society today; the erosion of the family structure and the family values. The moral conduct of our society has become such that no other word can describe this situation other than epidemic. Children are expected to be reared in our schools instead of our homes, they are learning values and social code from video games and the internet, and the moral fiber we learned from our parents a generation ago has been swept away by the broom of the ‘politically correct.’

It is no wonder that nearly 14,000 life ending abortions were performed here in Minnesota last year, the heartland of our great country. We want to give out condoms in our schools instead of teaching moral conduct and abstinence at home because it is easier. We allow our children to sit in front of the TV and play video games and chat on the internet instead of helping them with homework. We are not spending time talking with them and making sure that they know what the right choice would be in the different situations they are bound to encounter on the road of life. Parenting isn’t easy and it takes a lot of time and effort. Too many parents are not willing to sacrifice their own social life for the good of the children they brought into this world. Why should I as a parent stop spending time at the bar, have to take a bike ride with my family instead of playing softball every weekend, take my son to scouts instead of poker with the guys every week…. Maybe because spending time with my children, teaching them, parenting them so that they don’t become one of the statistics mentioned above is just the Right thing to do.